Lettuce + Carrots

Ran into Brad Wilcox on campus today. Made my day. I love him. He is a famous {and amazing} LDS speaker and was also the em cee at the Junior Miss Pagaent. A few minutes before the show on our final night, he gave me and the other 25 girls a 'pep talk.' He gave this analogy:

Imagine you go into the grocery store to buy lettuce. So you go in and you look out the lettuce, pick up the lettuce of your choice, buy it and leave the store. But you never once stop to look at the carrots. There is nothing wrong with the carrots, and you don't have anything against carrots; you just went in for lettuce---not carrots. Brad told us that only one girl was going to 'win' that night. And 25 girls were not going to 'win.' For those who are curious...I didn't win one single bit. But Brad's story stuck with me that night, and every single day since then. There is so much competition around us, and so much pressure to be 'successful.' I can say that nothing is more meaningful than being yourself. Being the best version of me and you is all you can do. Not everyone goes into the store looking for lettuce.